canberrabirds

Geoffrey's hybrids

To: "'Geoffrey Dabb'" <>, "'boy nature'" <>, <>
Subject: Geoffrey's hybrids
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:41:34 +1000
Thanks for that. Given the full photo of the finch my guess of Tri-coloured Mannikin head is wrong and Benj's id of a Jacarini finch head is (from my knowledge almost) certainly correct. (I have not seen the name given as Jacarina Finch, although it is not unknown for aviculturalists to invent their own name variations, so no comment as to which would be the correct version). It is a male, moulting, probably from breeding to eclipse plumage. I have previously seen that species in that aviary. Also for what little it is worth, my guess of the parrot being a Turquoise / Scarlet-chested Parrot hybrid is not because of "yellow mutations", although it appears to be that too, but because of the combination of the red wing stripe and the red belly patch would make sense and that I know they do hybridise easily. 
 
Philip
 
 
-----Original Message-----From: Geoffrey Dabb [ Sent: Sunday, 24 April 2011 9:52 AM
To: 'boy nature';      Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Geoffreys hybrids

Fascinating.   In this situation I find it useful to take a bird walk in the company of Bill Google, as cage-bird hobbyists have more than their fair share of the graphic space out there on the internet.

 

Yellow mutations of the Turquoise Parrot are plentiful in collections.  See 1a and 1b below, the first being the subject bird.  I am not sure about 1c.  I, being no aviarist, suppose they are turqs, but they could be something else.  This is not entirely a matter without relevance to field observations.  Some years ago there was famous discussion about a turq sighting at Jerra Wetlands where Joe Forshaw identified the bird as a ‘dilute mutation’ on account of the yellow, which led to the bird being classed as an escaper by the rarities committee.  At Weddin Mts Richard Allen occasionally nets a male turq with orange on the lower belly.  This seems to be a variation that occurs in the wild but whether related to the cagebird mutation I do not know.  In the well-known phrase of the field guides:  “Some birds have …”

 

What yellow is to the turq, pink is to the Bourke’s Parrot.  See 2, and take the walk with Bill Google if you want to see more variations.

 

I have no idea myself about the dark finch  -  3.  The bird seems to be in moult, and possibly an immature.  The Jacarina Finch Volatinia jacarina aka Blue-backed Grassquit occurs over much of South America.

 

I thought Philip and Benj did well with what was offered.

 

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